And how were the "expired" food items? The government has done what it can to idiot proof our world. Decide for yourself!! If the food was spoiled--return it. If not MOVE ON!!

I shop at Harris Teeter pretty regularly. They're pricey compared to the other chains here (Food Lion, Lowes Foods, Kroger. We're getting a Publix soon.) HT is nice, They were bought out by Kroger, but I can't see any change. They run some pretty good specials, like buy 2, get 3 free. Around here they also run coupon specials, like super doubles where they double coupons up to $2, I think (I don't coupon.) I generally only shop specials, but I'm in there every week for something.

Here's a guide to what those words really mean, sell-by, best by, best if used by. Your food was not "expired".

We just moved to the East Coast from California, and I don't miss Safeway for a second. It was also the most expensive grocery store in town, too. But Wegman's? OMG, the most beautiful store I have ever been in. Even if not my closest store, I'll go there on a regular basis. Simply glorious in all ways. My DIL says that Giant is less expensive, but the Wegman's is far less expensive than the California Safeways.

So in your situation, I'd do my major shopping at Wegman's and just use the closer Safeway for a forgotten item or bread or milk.

Must we be ugly and SHOUT in a grocery store thread? Sheesh.

Wegmans and HT are both good stores. HT is more expensive but they have good sales and a wide variety of items. I do think store condition and stock depend on the local manager and location so ymmv. Most Wegmans I have visited are huge stores and I will avoid it if I just have to run in and get a few things.

Love Wegman's and do most of my shopping there. One is 4 miles away and across the parking lot from my gym so I can easily pop in. Within a 10 mile radius I have 2 Wegmans, 3 Shop Rites, 2 Whole Foods, 2 Acmes, a Trader Joes and Alda.

That's too bad. I have a few choices that are 10-15 minutes from me. The cheapest is Stop and Shop. Acme and Key Food took over for other markets, and I sometimes run in for a few items if they are on my way.

We have a Whole Foods close by and a Mrs. Green's right in town. Those are too expensive to do a whole grocery shop.

I am diligent when it comes to meat, chicken and bread. So far I have not seen expired dates on the shelves.

Where I sometimes forget, is at CVS. Time goes by, I check the date on a cold medicine and it has expired. I have realized that I probably bought it close to the date. I caught a whole row of expired cold medicine and reported it. They took it off the shelves immediately.

I know you can use things past the date. But, if I am not using something right away, I would prefer the fresher option.

I hear really good things about Wegman's but we don't have one near here.

Expired food on the shelves means the local manager is not doing his or her job. Here is a link to send an e-mail to Safeway about the problem:

http://www.safeway.com/ShopStores/Contact-Us.page#/

i think many stores use the sell by date as when they get rid of food- my local stores are very good about marking down (sometimes significantly) food getting close to their sellby dates... my local stores do a pretty good job stocking shelves and rotating food, but i have seen shelves stocked without rotating the food too- that comes down to the stockers not doing their job and as graywings said, the manager not making sure they are doing their jobs correctly!

once in a while i see something past the sellby date, but not often... i usually always check tho on most things i buy!

I'm on the west coast and have shopped at several Albertsons and Safeways. Albertsons has always been an unappealing grocery store, so it doesn't surprise me that Safeway is going downhill, which used to be a pretty decent store. They don't put any money into upgrading their stores but charge as much as Whole Foods for some items. Our Albertsons won't even put all the lights on, probably so you can't see that the food has expired. I need a flashlight to shop!

I sometimes find expired food in the Publix I frequent. After getting home a few times with outdated stuff I've learned to check dates on the items that concern me (mostly dairy).

When I do find old milk, I go straight to the store manager to let him/her know. They are quick to remove the old items.

Yes, Publix has been sliding in this respect lately, also in the care of their freezer cases, and I never buy produce that's "on sale" since that mostly means they'll have to toss it tomorrow if they can't unload it. Since Mr. Publix died a few years back, it's not what it was.

But Wegmans? Golly, I'd happily drive 45 minutes to shop at Wegmans if we had them down here.

There are five Safeways in my town and all are very good at pulling past due foods. They have a section of mark downs for freshness dates, and it's really rare to find bad things there. All their stores have been upgraded and remodeled, so they're very nice, and have expanded their lines. Must be your local store-so I'd complain.

Recently Albertsons was bought out by another chain (Haggen) and it went under very quickly, and now Albertsons is taking back some of the stores, but none in my area.

We have a local grocery chain that is very, very nice, except for the store by my house-it's one of their smallest stores and for a while the produce was horrible and the meat less than stellar. We have noticed in the last year or so they have improved greatly-and it was a change in management.

I live in the Bay Area and have a Safeway a couple of blocks away. I don't like shopping there at all, but will run in only for a forgotten item or two. It's expensive, has a lousy selection of produce and dairy for a store its size. It always feels generic, like I could be about anywhere, at least in California. Aisles are narrow and shelves are high and it feels constricted everywhere. A few years ago they made the lighting low. It feels more like a restaurant. I want a bright grocery store, not one with mood lighting.

Fortunately where I live, I have choices and don't need to shop at Safeway. I haven't noticed stuff being expired or out-of-date.

My only choices right now in this smaller town are Safeway and Walmart, we've lost our Haggen Top Foods to their bankruptcy. I'm not a Walmart shopper, so that leaves Safeway. I'm not finding expired foods in our store, but I'm not at all happy with their dairy selection. I'm paying more for dairy, and selection tiny compared to the square footage of the store, few choices.

Once or twice a month I'm making the trip to Costco - 55 miles. I do stock up on their organic milk, half 'n half, cheeses with the extended use by dates. (that garage refrigerator holds more than beer and soft drinks) Trader Joe's near Costco and a Top Foods (newly remodeled and very nice store) too. Who knew, I almost have to leave town to grocery shop these days, cooler at the ready in the back of my car. It keeps me organized, I have no choice but to stay efficient with my food lists ;-)

I swear you live in my neighborhood!

We have a small Safeway very close by. I used to shop there all the time, I think mostly because it was most familiar to me. They tried renovating it a little, but overall, it sucks.

I won't buy meats there, and the produce is overall lousy.

I switched to Giant, and more recently, am doing more and more shopping at the new Wegmans that I'm thrilled opened up about 10 minutes away.

The other day, I stopped in the Safeway just to pick up a few odds and ends. The "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" I bought came wrapped in a coupon for $.75 off a dozen eggs.

Great!

The next day, I bought eggs at Giant and damn if that coupon hadn't expired a couple months ago! Giant honored it-thankfully.

Long story short- I'm done with Safeway except for convenience.

My son is a manager for Safeway. They can only stock their shelves with what they are sent. If the date is a year old, it came from the warehouse either with a date that was hard to read or it is a store problem with some one who did not know how to rotate being replaced by some one who does

But either way, take it back and let them know. And you will get your money back and an improved store

Yes, that is true, but it is also true that handling makes a difference for some products. I don't eat ice cream myself, but I recently bought a box of drumsticks by request for a guest. It must be two years or more since they switched to clear plastic individual wrapping, but the box I got at Publix (on sale--I should have guessed) was so old it still had the old printed wrappers. Guest tried one and said it was soft and stale, so back it went.

I would and do hold products at home past the use by date, but in my experience if the store has had it that long the odds are high that it sat out on a pallet too many times while the case was cleaned or defrosted or whatever.

Other than for poultry, I don't pay much attention to the dates because I've learned that most things are fine long past the sell-by/use-by date. However, I've been cleaning out my pantry this week and I am throwing away canned and jarred foods that are more than two years old. They might be edible, but at some point the taste and texture are compromised. I've also made a new resolution not to buy aspirational ingredients. If I'm not going to make a recipe that week, I'm not going to buy the ingredients to have on hand.

I shop mostly at my food coop and the farmers market then filling in at a small local grocery and Trader joes for a few more mainstream items. I'm on the west coast and am not familiar with most of the stores mentioned in this thread. We have a safeway very close by but it is the most aesthetically irritating store and I refuse to shop there. The overhead lighting is the main culprit and something about the height of the shelves the width of the aisles, etc just make me want to flee. Other people have mentioned the same things and won't shop there either.

Even if food is safe after the pull date, it is irritating to buy old food that is past its prime, especially if you don't plan on using it right away. I'd return it for sure .

There are times our refrigerator looks like that Safeway! My husband does not believe in sell-by, best by, or expired by dates. Sheesh. He keeps canned stuff in a box in the garage. Really. What is he preparing for? Anyway, I throw out some things, but other stuff, I leave. When we die, I will leave a note instructing DS to throw out everything immediately. Rant over.

Now, back to the op. I love our Harris Teeter. The people are great and most are extremely helpful. Food is good-love having lots of organic produce choices. We also have a Fresh Market that we hit a lot. I plan to try the new (somewhat, but still new to me b/c I haven't been) Aldie soon. DH started doing almost all our grocery shopping when he retired six years ago. I love that!

Love Wegmans, but our Giants aren't shabby. Am sure different locations and/or managers do make a difference, That said, I've never experienced that in any Wegmans.

We don't have Safeway or Wegmans, but we do have Harris Teeter. And ours is lovely, and the employees are so nice BUT...I have many times bought produce that went bad quickly! Or say, blueberries that had moldy ones inside the carton. I want to shop there because it convenient and just a nice experience, but honestly the food is much fresher at Walmart! I heard that since they have such a huge volume of sales their stock rotates very quickly. I have never had a problem with produce there. It certainly isn't an enjoyable shopping experience, though! Lol!

I shop at Wegman's. Not only is the location the most convenient to me, but when you comparison shop, one store is cheaper on this but more expensive on that, so in the end it works out about the same. Since I know the layout, it's quick for me to shop there. The employees are friendly and helpful.

i recently checked out a new Aldi. I made note of prices of items I usually buy. They were 49 cents cheaper on slivered almonds. The pineapples were a $1 cheaper, but also much smaller. The other prices weren't significantly lower. Much of the produce came pre-packed in quantities too large for my needs. The olive oils were all blended from olives from multiple countries. The store is not in a location I drive by or need to be near for any other reason. I don't buy cookies and chips, which was the largest aisle. All those factors mean I won't be shopping there. I'm sure it's a great place but it doesn't meet my needs.

Found with others in display on March 22, 2017. Expired weeks earlier. Was raw beef.

I had trouble with items I bought at Target over the holidays. One was butter and the other was frozen food...bought on two different trips. Both were several months past the date on the items.

Now I try to remember to check dates no matter where I shop and reach for the back of the shelf first.

reach for the back of the shelf first.

But be careful if you do that. In our Publix, they sometimes move the expired stuff to the very back, separated by a gap from the front items, until they can come around and remove it or slap a concealing label over the expired date and put it back out again. The gap doesn't last long once people start pawing through everything.

I shop at Stop and Shop and see off-dated products all of the time. I usually remember to check the date, but I've been burned a few times.

I brought it to the attention of the Assistant Manager one day, among other things. This time it was frozen pizza with an expired date. All of the kind I wanted had expired dates. He said that they have a practice to go through the aisles on scheduled times to check for expired dates. (Obviously not working, because I see off-dated products all of the time). He was nice enough to give me a free pizza of another brand to try.